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Nuggets out for revenge vs. hot-shooting Spurs

San Antonio embarrassed Denver on Nov. 17

By Benjamin Hochman The Denver Post

Posted:
12/17/2012 10:31:17 PM MST

Updated:
12/17/2012 10:31:17 PM MST

DENVER -- After the smack, a snack. This is how bad it got -- after Tim Duncan's night ended early on Nov. 17, the big man snacked on Lifesavers candies while still on the Spurs' bench, watching the spectacle that was his scorching teammates torching Denver.

That night, San Antonio made 16 3-pointers, one of just eight times since 1985-86 a Nuggets opponent made at least 16. In the blowout, Duncan only needed to play 23 minutes (though he, too, hit a 3), and the home team won, 126-100.

Well, Tuesday, the Nuggets are the home team in the revenge-y rematch. The Spurs entered Monday fifth in the NBA in 3-point shooting (38 percent).

"We can't get into the scramble, we can't get out of position as much as we did in that game," Nuggets coach George Karl said Monday. "My feeling is you need to start in our plug position (defensively). They're going to do a lot of screening, making you help and open-help. Plug position is the help position -- there's the ball and your man, and you're helping the ball. You start in a help position on the ball, you don't stay flat and open up a gap."

Only the Suns and Hornets allow opponents to shoot the 3 better than the Nuggets (37.8 percent). On the floor, really the only area Denver doesn't get torched is on the right side of the perimeter, where opponents shoot 35.4 percent from 3 (if that was the opponents' overall percentage, that would be good for 17th in the league). But the Nuggets allow teams to shoot better in all other areas behind the perimeter, notably at the top of the key, where teams shoot 41 percent.

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One guy who seems to get on Denver's nerves is the Spurs' Danny Green, an old college teammate of Ty Lawson who, a season ago, averaged 14 points per game against the Nuggets, but 9.1 against the entire league. In the Nov. 17 game, he made three 3s.

Manu Ginobili is another perimeter pest, he of five 3s in the first matchup, but Ginobili didn't play Monday at Oklahoma City because of a thigh bruise.

"This game comes at a good time for us, we're making steps forward," said Karl, whose team has won two consecutive games. "How they play in our building, it will be interesting to see who wins the pace and the attack game. (Tony) Parker does it as well as anyone in basketball. Duncan is playing at a great level. They have a lot of guys to plug in at different positions, and (coach Gregg Popovich) does that really well."

The Spurs, again, are the Spurs. They're one of the fiercest teams in the West, and one of the league's best at playing on the road.

"I think we respect them, but we're not afraid of them," Karl said.

On paper, the Nuggets' 13-12 record looks just average compared to some of the other teams in the conference, the teams some predicted that Denver would best in the West. But in the Doug Moe system, a formula cooked up by the Nuggets coach of the 1980s, Denver is plus-six, because you get a plus-one for a road win and a minus-one for a home loss. That's good for fourth in the entire league. Denver trails just the Warriors (plus-seven), the Knicks (plus-eight) and, sigh, the Spurs (plus-nine).

"You want to keep focused on your main goal, making the playoffs, being a 1-2-3-4 seed," Nuggets forward Kenneth Faried said Monday. "And the Spurs are another steppingstone we have to overcome and win this game."

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